Main Street projects on horizon

City also wants to make improvements north of underpass work.

City also wants to make improvements north of underpass work.

June 07, 2007|SUE LOWE Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA -- This road improvement stuff just never ends. Work on the underpass under the Canadian National Railroad tracks hasn't begun yet and plans already are being drawn up for road improvements north of it. Actually, that may result in both Main Street projects being done at about the same time, according to Gary West, director of engineering for the city of Mishawaka. Members of the Mishawaka Board of Public Works and Safety voted this week to hire Lawson-Fisher Associates, an engineering firm, to prepare plans for improvements to North Main Street from Donaldson Avenue south of John Young Middle School to Leyte Avenue, which is just north of McKinley Avenue. Board members also agreed to open bids at 10 a.m. June 29 for building the underpass and approaches to it. That project will go from Battell Street north to Donaldson Avenue. That will make everything, except for three blocks, five lanes wide from the St. Joseph River to north of McKinley Avenue. West said whether the street should be four or five lanes was "one of the things we've been debating." City officials finally decided to include the center turn lane because, "Look at the traffic and all the streets to turn left onto," West said. West said widening Main Street north of Donaldson will require that the city buy 30 parcels of property. He said most, if not all, are strips of property along the street. The city will pay $219,075 for the design work. West said engineers have estimated the paving of that section at $1.5 million. But that doesn't include the cost of buying property. The underpass itself already has cost the city $7 million and there's more money to be spent on preparation before the first shovel of dirt is moved for the underpass itself. West said the estimate for the cost of the underpass alone is $16 million. West thinks both projects can be done with only Main Street completely closed for only two or three weeks at the very beginning. He also thinks both could be finished in 2008.